Murphy, Mafe, and Hall- Invisible Men

[seabowl]

Murphy- except for maybe one splash play I believe in the first game of the season, I don’t recall him being mentioned one time during a broadcast. And please folks, enough with “he’s double teamed and that’s why“. Leonard Williams gets double teamed way more than Murphy. Sure he’s a rookie but anyone that called him to Aaron Donald II better keep that to themselves until he shows up.

Mafe and Hall- this wall has been virtually invisible the last six or seven games. The search for an effective pass rusher continues. Maybe Nwosu returns to form to help?

 

[Rat]

I had just logged on here to post a thread asking if the DL is actually good, because I can't tell, but this addresses most of what I was going to bring up anyway.

This is the second year in a row that Mafe looked on the verge of breaking into the upper echelon of NFL DEs only to go AWOL over the second half of the season.

Hall was awful last year, even for a rookie, so it was extra impressive when he was such a force early on. Now, it feels like he has one good play a game, but the rest of the time I forget he's even on the team.

I'll give Nwosu another week or two to shake off the rust, but he's clearly not all the way back. I hope his injuries haven't done him in because he was looking like a home run FA signing before he got hurt last year.

I'm getting tired of the whole "Murphy draws double teams" thing too. Murphy draws double teams, Leonard Williams draws double teams, Jarran Reed draws double teams... I'm starting to think that maybe DTs just sometimes draw double teams and it isn't necessarily some badge of honor awarded by the league's collective offenses every year.

 

[seabowl]

Look I get Murphy is a rookie, but I think most everyone on this board was expecting more pass rush out of him. I don’t see any Aaron Donald in him at all.

 

[Appyhawk]

Losing isn't fun but it can be used as a tool to make further progress. Last night was just such a tool. That applies not only to players but to coaches as well.
For starters our game plan last night was a dismal failure from start to finish. Coach Mac could see it too. You could see that from his facial expression as the game went on. He will put extra time in on this tape and find ways to improve on our performance. That improvement may not happen over night but it will happen.
Our strongest performance came from the D Line, after a discouragingly slow start.
Charbonnet showed that he is the real deal, despite our O Line being awol. That is not a matter of one position on the line. It was the entire line. GB's D Line is not top tier, but they overwhelmed our O Line all night long, start to finish.
Didn't hear someone's name? Riq was only mentioned when he got beat by a receiver, which happened often. Spoon was under a rock somewhere. Love got run over. Our secondary got punked by a less than top tier group of receivers.
This game proved that Geno is Geno and he is the best we have at QB. Not great, but he is the best we have. After that we have nothing at that position.
As for this year it would seem obvious the Rams will win this division and maybe the wild card round, then they too will be back to the drawing board.
We lost games we should have won, but I don't think we won any games we should have lost. That is a workable starting point for a team on the rise.

 

[olyfan63]

Losing isn't fun but it can be used as a tool to make further progress. Last night was just such a tool. That applies not only to players but to coaches as well.
For starters our game plan last night was a dismal failure from start to finish. Coach Mac could see it too. You could see that from his facial expression as the game went on. He will put extra time in on this tape and find ways to improve on our performance. That improvement may not happen over night but it will happen.
Our strongest performance came from the D Line, after a discouragingly slow start.
<snip>

That's how I see it too. Last night was a beatdown for the coaching staff as much as or more than for the players. Mac and Grubb both got an education.

I recall soul-searching, as a coach, after a late-season beatdown by a feared opponent, where I got a bunch of things wrong.
The next season, we played them first game of the season, and this time it was my team administering the beatdown to them.
What changed? My average players improved their performance enough to neutralize their good players. My below-average players improved to average and neutralized their average players. This allowed my star players to shine. Also I didn't make silly coaching mistakes and had a better game plan. We owned them from that game forward.

I think the Seahawks needed this beatdown by the Packers, as a reality check. I'm confident MikeMac will improve the defense, over time, to be a unit that stops Green Bay. It just won't be this season, unless the Hawks can first stop the Rams offense in week 18. Yes, we need Mafe, Hall, Woolen, etc. to show up. MikeMac will watch the film to see what Green Bay did to neutralize them.

This game also badly exposed the Seahawks O-Line and the pass blocking schemes, and how easy Grubb's approach is making it for opposing defenses. Why is it so predictable? Why is the QB always in the same place, in a slow-developing play, just begging to get sacked? What's wrong with moving the QB around? We can only hope Grubb learned something by watching the Green Bay offense and Lefleur. The O-Line talent issue is going to take a couple seasons to improve.

 

[Appyhawk]

I know it doesn't really fit Geno's skillset but I am a big fan of RPO. It provides so many more opportunities than staying in the pocket and can mitigate powerful rusher's effectiveness. But it requires O Linemen who are good while being mobile. Geno is a sitting duck.

 

[evergreen]

I saw them all on the outside of a bunch of plays.

 

[FreshBoxLive]

Byron Murphy was one of the main reasons I was excited for this season. I love trench play and I didn't know much about him. All the talking heads and everyone on this board had me convinced he was Aaron Donald II. Don't forget how Byron was Mcvay's first choice and he was crying that we had "stolen" his pick. I'm taking Verse over Murphy every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Therefore, in my mind, he is already a bust.

 

[Seahawkwalt1967]

Absent… absolutely. I’m not keen on extending Hall or Mafe. Murphy looks average at best.

 

[KinesProf]

Murphy is playing well if you know what to look for when watching interior trench play. DT is a position where it isn't always outright obvious or overt, and the box score can be misleading, but the quality is there with Murphy. Holding ground against down blocks, winning leverage, winning the outside shoulder, flashing colour in gaps and forcing runs to be stretched out of their intended gaps.

 

[seabowl]

Murphy is playing well if you know what to look for when watching interior trench play. DT is a position where it isn't always outright obvious or overt, and the box score can be misleading, but the quality is there with Murphy. Holding ground against down blocks, winning leverage, winning the outside shoulder, flashing colour in gaps and forcing runs to be stretched out of their intended gaps.

Can he make even 1 big play? Too much to ask for?

 

[12th Dimension]

Murphy has to be quicker off the snap. He's always the last player in motion. Even with this disadvantage, he's made some nice plays. IDL is a tough place to flash as a rookie.

 

[Fresno Hawk]

Can't call him a bust. He's not lights out but he is good. He and Leonard have been the 2 best interior lineman we have. Mafe and hall rely on their speed at this point in their careers. Their power will come, along with more passrush moves.

 

[seabowl]

Can't call him a bust. He's not lights out but he is good. He and Leonard have been the 2 best interior lineman we have. Mafe and hall rely on their speed at this point in their careers. Their power will come, along with more passrush moves.

Not that this is the be all end all, but PFF says Reed has been better

 

[Jville]

There has been a viable change in how the front seven go about their business.

In the days of stack and shed Bobby Wagner, linemen seemed to me to be more at liberty to attack.

With the new defense, interior linemen are expected to keep inside linebackers clean so they can mirror and attack.

That's changed what we are seeing.

 

[Fresno Hawk]

Not that this is the be all end all, but PFF says Reed has been better

PFF, man I don't ever use that site. PFF doesn't know the play call, specific variations of how they are taught to read things out on the field, etc. So they are grading good, neutral, or bad effectiveness in specific categories, while coaches are grading on use of technique, specific rules within the scheme, etc. as well as effectiveness. Basically PFF doesn't know if the coaches are putting players in great position or an exploitable position and that changes the grade.

 

[Spin Doctor]

Murphy has been alright when I key in on him. He gets pressure and within MacDonald's system, it makes his job much harder. He's maintaining gap integrity and creating lanes for our LBs to make a play. He's hasn't been Donald, but you were deluding yourself if you thought he'd be able to step in and do that, especially in MacDonald's system. We run our lineman in an extremely wide stance and leave them out on an island. Mebane even talked about how it makes the job of D-Lineman a lot harder to execute.